International Women's Day

I found these feathers in the garden this morning and they are here today to celebrate two women  - Emmeline Pankhurst (who wore purple feathers) and Etta Lemon.
8 March 1914 women (and probably a few men) marched in London to Travalgar Square in support of women's suffrage. Sylvia Pankhurst was to speak at the meeting, but was arrested on her way there.  That’s how International Women’s Day was born! Probably the whole world knows about the Pankhurst sisters and their leadership of the suffragette movement, but little or nothing about the anti-suffragette movement.  Etta Lemon was a founder of the Anti-Suffragette movement and was firmly against the slaughter of birds to use in the hat industry.  (Mrs Pankhurst was renowned for her elegant feathered hats.)  Etta was passionate about birds and their protection and became known as ‘Mother of the Birds’.   She was the founder of the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds)  -  yes, it was women who founded the RSPB!   Etta Lemon bio.